Porter-Leath launches kids' book on Memphis

"We Live in Memphis!" by Perre Magness, illustrated by Michelle Duckworth.

There are kids in Shelby County whose world is so limited they would not recognize the Mississippi River bridge with the M-shaped arches. But Porter-Leath hopes to change that with the launch of a new children's book about the city called "We Live in Memphis!"

The small paperback, written by local author Perre Magness and illustrated by local artist Michelle Duckworth, will be distributed to preschool children or mothers in Memphis and Shelby County starting today, said Mike Warr, executive vice president.

The 20-page book introduces kids to the river, the Hernando de Soto Bridge, the lobby of The Peabody, Beale Street, the Memphis Zoo and other local landmarks.

Porter-Leath has 20,000 copies and plans to give away 19,000 over the next two years, Warr said. About 3,600 kids will get them today through the Shelby County Head Start program. The giveaway coincides with Read for the Record, a national campaign led by the early education nonprofit Jumpstart, which is encouraging the reading this year of the children's books "Ladybug Girl" and "Bug Squad."

Porter-Leath will also include the books in the approximately 6,000 Welcome Baby Box packages given to new mothers each year at some hospitals in Shelby County. Warr said the giveaway will continue through these two programs until the books run out. Some books will also be sold at bookstores, and they can be purchased through PorterLeath.org for $7 including shipping.

"We're all about early childhood and brain development, and one of the best things you can do for a child is sit with them and

go through a book even if they don't understand the words," Warr said.

Magness said her most successful book has been "Memphis: A Children's History," written for kids in grades 3-5. The idea for the new book sprang from a suggestion by the Junior League of Memphis that she write a history for toddlers. "But I couldn't do that," she said. "Young children don't have a sense of the past."

Instead, she chose to write about something they could understand. "The place they live is important," she said. The book will help them "have a sense of the world around them." The text is written in rhymed couplets because young children learn best by rhythm, rhyme and repetition, she said.

Duckworth, 28, is a Memphis College of Art graduate who has illustrated several children's books, including Magness' "Children's History." She said her aim here was to give it "a more young, playful look, more colorful and engaging."

Duckworth has a show of her paintings on display until late October in the Levy Gallery in Buckman Performing Arts Center.

The Junior League and First Tennessee Bank helped fund the project, and Porter-Leath agreed to get the book published and distributed, said Magness, who donated the copyright to Porter-Leath.

Magness suggests reading the book aloud to very young children. She said she tried out the new book out by presenting it to the 1-year-old daughter of a friend. "She held it, and she smiled and put it in her mouth."